Lecture 7 - Brand Activism

Question 1

What is brand activism?

Answer 1

Brand activism takes place when a company or brand support promote the social,
economic, environmental, cultural and social issue and align it with its core values
and vision of the company (Shetty et al. 2019)

Question 2

what is ‘authentic’ brand activism?

Answer 2

when a brand a non-neutral stance on socially political issues to create social change & marketing success (Vredenburg et al, 2020)

Question 3

Brand Political Activism ‘Lenses’

Answer 3

Brand Authenticity View

Corporate Citizen View

Employee Engagement View

Question 4

Brand Authenticity (Description & Impact)

Answer 4

Companies must act in a brand consistent manner that connects with the target market in an authentic way. Reduce involvement in political activism as market leaders worry about brand authenticity & risks to the brand

Question 5

Corporate Citizen View (Description & Impact)

Answer 5

Fulfills company responsibility to contribute across stakeholders to the world in which they operate. Limited effect on brand political activism because although it motivates, it lacks operational guidelines to drive actions at the workbench level.

Question 6

Employee Engagement View (Description & Impact)

Answer 6

Helps companies attract & retain employees as well as increase their productivity. Likely to increase brand political activism given human capital benefits will boost productivity & employee attraction & retention as well as providing an opportunity to gauge customer & partner reactions.

Question 7

Why do Brands engage in brand activism?

Answer 7

• Grabs attention of target audience & prospects
• Increase in willingness to buy
• In order to make a difference or influence change, consumers may initiative boycotting actions to punish a firm for illegitimacy or socially irresponsible actions or policies
• Activism even result in purchase intention

Question 8

Brands & Morals: is it always positive?

Answer 8

• How we identify with a brand impacts our attitude towards them. Moral transgressions by brands have lead to stories of hate.

Example: Starbucks - pledge to hire 10,000 refugees which was viewed both positively & negatively as they lost some consumers, however gained some new therefore is based off of personal stance & motivation. Brand managers operating at a international scale need to be able to understand hat different consumers react differently therefore need to adapt their approach to best suit consumers.

Question 9

What theories can explain the link between consumers & brands?

Answer 9

Consumer Brand Identification Theory
- perceiving, feeling & valuing the belongingness with a brand

Moral foundations Theory (Graham, Haidt & Nosek, 2009)
Care vs Harm, Fairness vs Cheating, Loyalty vs Betrayal, Authority/ Respect vs Subversion, Sanctity/ Purity vs Degradation, Liberty vs Oppression

Question 10

Drawbacks of Brand Activism

Answer 10

• Invite backlash & boycotting from the current customer base having differing social, cultural, political & environmental beliefs
• audiences can view activist brands behaviours as inauthentic
• accuse brands as woke washing
• consumers may not believe brands when they engage in activism

Question 11

Does taking a stand mean giving up a consumer?

Answer 11

• The decision to position a brand on a diverse issues indicates a willingness to alienate a significant part of an existing customer base
• Consumer brand disagreement regarding the brands stand led to a decrease in brand attitude whereas there was generally no significant effect on brand attitude in the case of consumer brand agreement

Question 12

What are the 4 types of brand avtivism?

Answer 12

Silent Brand Activism
Authentic Brand Activism
Absence of Brand Activism
Inauthentic Brand Activism

Question 13

What is a critical part of engaging in Brand activism?

Answer 13

It is critical that actions must meet up with words and that brands fulfilled promise to avoid inauthenticity & bad PR